Free Diamonds Forever by Justine Elyot Page B

estate,’ said Jason, but the sneer was half-hearted. He sounded profoundly sad.
    ‘I told him I loved him. That was the night he dumped me.’
    ‘Oh, what a dickwad,’ said Jenna, then, when Jason and Linda looked at each other with mild bemusement, ‘Sorry, I guess that’s an Americanism?’
    ‘I guess. We get the gist, though,’ said Jason.
    ‘Broken-hearted, I was. Well, you can imagine.’ Linda held out an empty glass hopefully to her son, who shook his head. She shrugged and continued. ‘Until I found out I was expecting. I knew it wasn’t exactly good news on the face of it, what with me being fresh out of school with no job and no money, but I was so happy. My little lord or lady, inside me, where nobody could get at him or her. Summat of my own at last, to love me and be loved. ’Cos you know what your nan was like, Jase.’
    ‘Just about.’
    ‘I know you were only little when she died, but she wasn’t much cop. And your granddad was handy with his fists. To both of us. You and me, though – that was going to be different.’
    She sighed, tears in her eyes.
    Jenna reached over and rubbed her shoulder. Even Jason’s habitual anger seemed to calm.
    ‘I could have got rid of you, you know,’ said Linda.
    ‘So you kept telling me.’
    ‘It would have been the sensible thing. Everyone said so. But I couldn’t. There was no way I could …’
    Her voice cracked and Jenna cradled her for a moment until the shuddering of her shoulders stilled.
    ‘I wanted you so bad, Jase. And when you were born, I was that happy … But it was much harder than I thought it would be. Much, much harder. I got post-natal depression and …’
    ‘OK,’ said Jason, the sting finally out of him. ‘Don’t beat yourself up, Mum. I know.’
    Linda dried her tears on a napkin.
    ‘He’s dead now anyway,’ she said. ‘No point going on about it, is there?’
    ‘Not really.’ Jason leant forwards. ‘Look, promise me you won’t tell anyone else. I don’t want it getting out. I especially don’t want Lawrence Harville hearing it. Do you promise?’
    Linda nodded. ‘It’s our secret, then?’
    ‘Our secret.’

Chapter Seven
    ‘TALKING OF SECRETS …’
    They had just seen Linda off in a cab and Jenna had shut the front door to find Jason’s hand on her rear.
    ‘What about them?’ she said with a shiver of anticipation.
    ‘I wonder what people would say if they knew you liked to sit down to a fancy meal with a little extra up your bum?’
    ‘Jason!’
    ‘What? You like it when I’m crude. Don’t pretend you don’t.’ His fingertip pushed the silk inside the furrow of her bottom, stretching what was left over her rounded cheeks. ‘Could you feel it all the way through dinner?’
    ‘Well, some of the time. I got used to it, though. I almost forgot it was there now and again.’
    Jason tutted and patted her bottom.
    ‘Can’t have that,’ he said. ‘I want you to know what’s happening to you, every dirty second of it. Believe me, you won’t be forgetting what’s inside you once I’ve got you upstairs.’
    ‘Perhaps I should stay down here then.’
    But she didn’t mean it. She was counting on Jason’s response to this being exactly what it was.
    He grabbed her round the waist, spun her to face him and hoisted her up over his shoulder, carrying her caveman-style up the stairs to the bedroom. All the garden work had made him stronger than ever, and he didn’t stagger or pause for a moment until they were in the bedroom and she was thrown down on the bed.
    ‘Mind my dress,’ she gasped, still laughing, but slightly alarmed to hear the ripping of a seam near her shoulder.
    ‘I don’t give a toss about your dress,’ he snarled, throwing off his jacket and loosening the tie he’d worn to appease his mother, who had been in raptures at how smart he was these days. ‘Get it off – now.’
    She sat up, collecting her breath, watching him with wide eyes.
    ‘Don’t make me wait, Jen.’
    She